Chapter 15 - The Second Daughter)
The photograph changed the investigation again.
Federal agents searched school databases.
Brooks contacted missing persons units.
Daniel studied the girl's face until he could see it with his eyes closed.
There were similarities to Winnie.
Not enough to call them sisters.
Enough to call them family.
Two days later, investigators identified the school.
St. Catherine's Academy.
Three hundred miles away.
The girl in the photograph was named Lucy Ward.
Ward.
Daniel immediately remembered Rebecca's letter.
If someone named Elizabeth Ward contacts you, run.
Brooks searched the family records.
Lucy lived with her mother.
Elizabeth Ward.
No father listed.
No reliable birth certificate for Elizabeth.
Daniel stood in his father's hidden office while Brooks read the information.
"How old is Elizabeth?"
"Thirty one."
"Sarah's daughter could be around that age."
"Yes."
Daniel looked at Rebecca and Sarah's infant photograph.
"If Elizabeth is Sarah's daughter, Lucy would be the next generation."
"H2."
Daniel nodded.
The child she will have.
Vale had not been speaking about Winnie.
He had been speaking about Lucy.
Then why had Winnie been watched?
Because Rebecca had discovered the program.
Because Vale could not know which branch of the family carried whatever trait Project Haven tracked.
Or because someone had deliberately confused the records.
Daniel no longer trusted assumptions.
Brooks arranged contact with Elizabeth through federal investigators.
She refused to meet.
Then she disappeared.
Lucy did not attend school the following morning.
Their house was empty.
No luggage.
No abandoned belongings.
Just gone.
That afternoon Sybil requested another meeting.
Daniel almost refused.
Then Brooks told him Sybil had information about Elizabeth.
Daniel entered the interview room.
Sybil looked thinner.
"What do you know?"
"Elizabeth is Sarah's daughter."
"You are certain?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Rebecca found her in 2019."
Daniel stared.
"Rebecca knew where Sarah was?"
"No. Sarah disappeared in 1998."
"What happened?"
"I do not know."
"What about Elizabeth?"
"Raised under several names. Foster homes. Private guardians."
"Vale?"
"Project Haven."
Daniel sat.
"And Lucy?"
Sybil lowered her eyes.
"Vale has been looking for her since she was born."
"Why?"
"I still do not know."
Daniel became angry.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because Rebecca never learned the final purpose."
"You worked for Vale."
"I moved files."
"Then tell me what was in them."
"Genetics. Blood tests. neurological scores. Immune markers. Pregnancy histories."
Daniel felt disgust.
"Children were experiments."
"Maybe monitored subjects. Maybe something worse."
"What did Rebecca believe?"
"That Project Haven began as medical research and became something private investors wanted to control."
"Control what?"
Sybil looked at him.
"Families."
Daniel remembered the foundation.
Adoption organizations.
Fertility clinics.
Medical records.
A system that could follow people from birth through adulthood.
"Why did Rebecca die?"
"Because she stole the master index."
Daniel leaned forward.
"What master index?"
"A file connecting the original Haven children to their descendants."
"Where is it?"
Sybil hesitated.
"Rebecca gave it to me."
Daniel's anger returned.
"Where?"
"I hid it."
"Where?"
"In the Hale house."
Daniel stood.
"You have had seven years to tell me this."
"I was afraid."
"So was my mother when you locked her in the attic."
Sybil closed her eyes.
"I know."
"Where is the file?"
She looked at him.
"Under the dining room."
Daniel stopped.
"What?"
"The original house plans show an old service room beneath the dining room. Rebecca found it while researching your grandfather."
Daniel thought of the attic.
The hatch above the table.
Secrets above them.
Secrets below them.
"How do I get inside?"
"There is a door behind the wine cellar shelving."
Daniel left without another word.
That evening Brooks, Daniel and Eleanor entered the basement.
Winnie was supposed to remain upstairs with two officers.
She followed them anyway.
Daniel discovered her behind Eleanor ten minutes later.
"No."
"Dad."
"Upstairs."
"I found Grandma."
"And nearly fell off a ladder."
"I did not fall."
Eleanor smiled.
Daniel did not.
"Winnie."
"Fine."
She walked toward the stairs.
Then stopped.
"Did you hear that?"
Daniel sighed.
"Winnie."
"No. Really."
Everyone became silent.
Knock.
Daniel looked at Brooks.
The sound came from behind the wine shelves.
Knock.
A pause.
Knock.
Winnie whispered, "Three knocks."
Danger.
Brooks drew his weapon.
Daniel moved Winnie behind him.
They shifted the shelving aside.
A narrow wooden door appeared.
No handle.
Only a keyhole.
Daniel tried Eleanor's brass key.
It fit.
The lock opened.
Cold air moved through the gap.
Brooks entered first.
A short staircase led downward.
At the bottom was a room no larger than Daniel's study.
Metal cabinets lined the walls.
A desk stood in the center.
On it sat a single black binder.
Daniel approached.
MASTER INDEX.
He opened it.
Pages of names.
Dates.
Codes.
Photographs.
Rebecca H17.
Sarah H18.
Elizabeth H18 2.
Lucy H18 3.
Daniel turned pages quickly.
Then stopped.
Winnie Hale H17 2.
Beside her name was a handwritten note.
Observation discontinued 2021.
Daniel almost felt relief.
Then he saw the next line.
Status transferred.
"Transferred where?" Eleanor whispered.
Daniel turned the page.
It had been removed.
Brooks searched the desk.
Nothing.
Then Winnie pointed toward one of the filing cabinets.
"There."
A red light blinked.
A camera.
Brooks examined it.
"Wireless."
Daniel looked around the hidden room.
"Someone has been watching this room."
Winnie whispered, "Are they watching now?"
The red light stopped blinking.
Brooks immediately contacted the officers upstairs.
Daniel closed the binder.
Then a telephone rang.
Everyone froze.
An old black telephone sat on a small table in the corner.
Daniel had not noticed it.
It rang again.
No wire connected it to the wall.
Brooks motioned for silence.
The third ring came.
Daniel answered.
"Hello?"
No response.
Then breathing.
A man's voice finally spoke.
"You should have listened to Rebecca."
Daniel's grip tightened.
"Vale?"
A soft laugh.
Eleanor stepped closer.
Brooks signaled investigators to trace the call.
Daniel continued.
"Where is Elizabeth?"
"Safe."
"Lucy?"
"Safer than she would be with you."
"They have nothing to do with me."
"That is where you are wrong."
Daniel looked at Winnie.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing from you."
"Then why call?"
"To correct a mistake."
"What mistake?"
The man paused.
"When Rebecca discovered the index, she believed there were two branches."
"H17 and H18."
"Yes."
"Rebecca and Sarah."
"Yes."
"What is wrong about that?"
The man laughed quietly.
"There were never two infants in Project Haven."
Daniel felt cold.
He looked at Eleanor.
"What does that mean?"
"You are holding an index designed to hide the truth from people like Martin."
"What truth?"
"Rebecca and Sarah were not twins."
Daniel's throat tightened.
"Then who was Sarah?"
Silence.
"Who was she?"
Vale answered calmly.
"Ask Eleanor."
Daniel turned toward his mother.
Eleanor looked confused.
"I do not know."
Vale heard her.
"Of course you do, Eleanor."
She moved toward the phone.
"I have never met you before this month."
"No."
The man's voice softened.
"But you met Sarah."
Eleanor froze.
Daniel stared.
"When?"
Vale answered for her.
"The night Daniel was born."
No one moved.
Daniel could hear his own heartbeat.
"Why would Sarah be there?"
Vale continued.
"Because Eleanor was not the only woman who left that hospital with a baby."
Eleanor staggered backward.
Daniel caught her.
"What is he talking about?"
Her lips trembled.
"I do not know."
Vale laughed again.
Then Winnie pointed toward the final cabinet.
"Dad."
A label was attached to it.
HALE BIRTH RECORDS.
Daniel opened the drawer.
Inside were dozens of files.
The first was his own.
Daniel Thomas Hale.
He opened it.
Birth date.
Weight.
Hospital.
Mother.
Eleanor Hale.
Father.
Thomas Hale.
Everything normal.
Then he noticed a second page.
Restricted amendment.
Brooks moved beside him.
Daniel read the first line.
Original infant assignment changed at 02:17.
His hands started shaking.
"What does infant assignment mean?"
Eleanor whispered, "Daniel."
He looked at her.
She was crying.
"I swear I never knew."
The telephone remained against his ear.
Vale said, "Now you understand why Rebecca married you."
Daniel could barely form words.
"What?"
"She was not investigating Project Haven because she happened to discover your family foundation."
Vale paused.
"She married into the Hale family because she was looking for someone."
"Who?"
A sound came from upstairs.
The front door alarm.
Then shouting.
Brooks turned toward the staircase.
An officer's voice echoed down.
"Detective."
Winnie grabbed Daniel's hand.
Brooks called back.
"What?"
The officer appeared at the top of the basement stairs.
His face was pale.
"There is a woman at the front door."
Daniel still held the phone.
"Who?"
"She says her name is Elizabeth Ward."
The voice on the telephone suddenly went silent.
Daniel looked at the receiver.
"Vale?"
Nothing.
Then the line disconnected.
Daniel ran upstairs.
Eleanor and Winnie followed.
Brooks reached the foyer first.
Two officers stood on either side of the door.
Through the glass, a woman waited beneath the porch light.
Early thirties.
Dark red hair.
Pale skin.
A small girl stood beside her.
Lucy.
Daniel opened the inner door but kept the security barrier closed.
Elizabeth looked at him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You are Daniel Hale."
"Yes."
She looked past him.
At Winnie.
Then at Eleanor.
Eleanor stopped breathing.
Elizabeth whispered, "You."
Daniel looked at his mother.
"You know her?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
Elizabeth stepped closer to the glass.
"You held me."
Eleanor went pale.
"What?"
"When I was a baby."
Winnie moved beside Daniel.
Lucy looked through the door at her.
The two girls stared at each other.
Same red hair.
Same cautious expression.
Not identical.
But unmistakably connected.
Daniel unlocked the outer door.
Brooks stopped him.
"Wait."
Elizabeth lifted both hands.
"I am not here to hurt anyone."
"Why are you here?" Daniel asked.
"Because Adrian found us."
"Where?"
"Yesterday."
"How did you escape?"
Elizabeth looked toward Lucy.
"He let us go."
Brooks frowned.
"Why?"
Elizabeth reached into her coat.
Every officer tensed.
She slowly removed an envelope.
"He wanted me to bring this."
"To who?"
Elizabeth looked directly at Eleanor.
"Her."
Eleanor accepted the envelope with shaking hands.
Her name was written across the front.
Inside was a photograph.
Eleanor looked at it.
A sound escaped her throat.
Daniel took the picture.
It showed a hospital room in 1984.
Eleanor lay asleep in a bed.
Thomas Hale stood beside her.
In his arms was a newborn baby.
Behind him stood a young nurse.
Daniel looked closer.
The nurse resembled Elizabeth.
No.
Not Elizabeth.
An older version of the same face.
"Sarah," Elizabeth said.
Daniel looked at her.
"My grandmother."
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Daniel turned the photograph over.
Three words were written on the back.
HE CHOSE DANIEL.
Daniel felt the floor disappear beneath him.
"What does that mean?"
Elizabeth stared at him.
"I came here because there is something you need to know about your father."
"Thomas?"
She nodded.
"He did not fund Project Haven."
Daniel waited.
Elizabeth's next words were barely a whisper.
"He created it."
Silence filled the foyer.
Winnie gripped Daniel's hand.
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
At Elizabeth.
At Lucy.
At the photograph taken the night he was born.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the Hale house.
Winnie screamed.
Daniel pulled her against him.
Brooks shouted for everyone to stay down.
Outside, a car engine started.
Then came three slow knocks from somewhere inside the wall.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Winnie whispered against Daniel's chest.
"Dad."
He could feel her trembling.
"Someone is still in the house."
May you like
And from the darkness beneath the staircase, a woman's voice answered.
"I know."
